Nonmarket strategy research: systematic literature review and future directions

Abstract

In current management research, a variety of different activities are summarized under the generic term “nonmarket strategy”. Simultaneously, “sub-categories” of nonmarket strategies such as political or social strategies are treated as isolated activities, making it difficult to realize cross-concept relations or commonalities. This article bundles, maps and critically evaluates the rising number of publications in the field of nonmarket strategy research. Based on an integrative framework, we work up insights that have been developed since Baron’s (Manag Rev 37:47–65, 1995) seminal publication. Doing so, our analysis extends previous studies by including internal and external antecedents that influence the development of nonmarket strategies, by analyzing the impact of nonmarket strategies on firm performance and the possibility of strategy integration, on a national as well as multinational level. Key empirical and conceptual papers are reviewed and major findings, relationships, patterns and contradictions are revealed. By consolidating and synthesizing dispersed knowledge, we identify implications for nonmarket strategy elaboration as well as several directions for future research.